


Tacenda

by subernabur



Series: Subernabur Whumptober 2020 [15]
Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Drunk Impostor, Drunk characters, F/M, Manhandling, among us brainrot, help me, prompt used
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29156091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subernabur/pseuds/subernabur
Summary: Cyan doesn't believe in Impostors.
Relationships: Brown/Cyan (Among Us), Crewmate/Impostor (Among Us)
Series: Subernabur Whumptober 2020 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989406
Kudos: 34





	Tacenda

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Used: Manhandling

“I don’t believe in ghosts.” 

Green’s eyes narrowed in a glare, staring at the talking crewmate. Cyan looked almost smug as he spoke, as if it was some great achievement. Purple snorted in response, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t need to believe in ghosts to be scared of them, partner.”

“I’m only scared of real things.” Cyan said, a smirk on his face as he responded to Purple. 

“Like Impostors?” Green snickered as he spoke, his hand going up to his helmet as if to cover his mouth, though the helmet got in the way. 

“Impostors aren’t real.” Cyan huffed, rolling his eyes. “I mean, sure, there might be insane humans out there killing a crew cause they’re not all there, but aliens aren’t real.”

“Are you suuuuure?” Green said, getting closer to Cyan with a devilish grin behind his visor. Cyan could just barely see it through the glass, and he rolled his eyes again, shoving Green backwards.

“Whatever. Even if they  _ were _ real, which they aren’t,” Cyan quickly added on after he saw Green tilt their head out of amusement, “there’s definitely not one on our crew. We’ve been on this ship for, what, a few months?”

“Two.” White added on, finally ending her silence.

“ _ Two _ months!” Cyan said, holding up two fingers for emphasis. “And nothing has happened. No sabotages, no murders, nothing. We are completely and entirely clear, the whole crew.”

“A hundred percent convinced, huh?” Green’s smirk still hadn’t disappeared, and Cyan could practically hear it in his voice.

“Oh, back off.” Cyan snorted, pushing Green away again. “Besides, we were supposed to be telling ghost stories, weren’t we?”

“Yeah, then you had to brag about not believing in them.” Brown chuckled, her tone light. 

“Well, I don’t!” Cyan huffed, folding his arms stubbornly and glaring around the room.

“Yeah, that’d explain why you were hugging onto me for dear life.” White said in a monotone voice, though the rest of the crew burst out in laughter.

“I was not!” Cyan could feel his skin grow hot in embarrassment, glad for the helmet’s privacy. “I thought you would be scared!”

“Now, we all know that’s not true.” Purple chuckled. “White ain’t scared of anything.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” Cyan huffed, still clutching to his alibi.

“Have  _ you _ ever scared her?” Blue leaned forward, placing his hands palm down on the carpet as he leaned forward. 

“I don’t  _ try _ to scare people, Blue.” Cyan rolled his eyes for a third time, still hidden by the helmet.

“Well, I’ve never caught her unawares.” Purple answered. “She, on the other hand, has scared me quite a bit.”

“Yeah, she barely has to try.” Blue snickered. “She makes almost no noise when she’s trying to.”

“Yeah, yeah, we all know White is a fearless eldritch creature.” Green said, waving his hands around. “Can we get back to the ghost stories now? I wanna see if I can make Cyan pee his pants.”

Cyan let out an exclamation of embarrassment and surprise as the rest of the crew laughed, even White letting out a small chuckle. “Not funny!” Cyan squeaked out, trying to cover Green’s mouth over his helmet.

“You keep thinking that.” Green said, still smirking. “I have another ghost story.”

Cyan let out a groan, falling backwards and flopping onto the blanket covered ground as Green started speaking. Cyan tuned him out, looking at the metal walls and eyes wandering to the vent that was touching the floor, embedded in the wall.

It seemed as if the rest of the room went silent as Cyan stared at the vent, going over his conversation with the others about Impostors. He really didn't believe in them, but that didn't stop the shiver down his spine as he thought of an Impostor coming out of the vent and hunting them all down.

"Cyan?"

Cyan jumped up, smacking Blue's head with his helmet. The two of them both groaned in pain, Blue glaring at Cyan.

"Watch where you're goin', man!" Blue huffed, rubbing his helmet as if it was his head.

"Sorry." Cyan mumbled, going to rub the back of his neck only to meet the bottom of his helmet. He forced his hand down, pushing away the nervous tic. “Anyways, what’d you need?”

“You were just completely zoned out.” Green responded, shrugging. “Did you even hear what I said?”

“Uh,” Cyan blanked on a response, shrugging with a nervous chuckle as his hand flinched upward to scratch at the back of his neck again before he shoved the instinct down.

“Heh, I knew you were zoned out, but not  _ that _ bad.” Brown chuckled, looking up from her book. “Maybe we should get to sleep.”

“What?” Green protested. “But it’s not even official lights out time yet and we were gonna stay up  _ way _ past that!”

“We better not.” Blue grumbled. “Cyan and Brown already have enough trouble sleeping, I don’t need the rest of you stumbling into med-bay on your days off complaining about insomnia.”

“I’m not a big fan of the idea either.” Purple said. “I need my beauty sleep, y’know?”

“Yeah, you  _ definitely _ haven’t been getting enough.” Green snickered, leaning back as Purple reached to lightly tap their helmet.

“And I’m sure White wouldn’t want to stay up either, so you’re outnumbered.” Blue said. “Let’s head to our rooms.”

“No, I wanna stay up.” White said, everyone immediately turning to look at her. “I’m having fun. Plus Green said he had a surprise.”

Blue sighed, rubbing the front of his helmet as if it was his forehead. “Okay, we can stay up until lights out.” 

“Yay!” Green cheered. Cyan chuckled a little bit, nudging him with his shoulder.

“Does this mean that we get to see the surprise White mentioned?” Cyan asked, head tilting in curiosity.

He immediately regretted it when he saw Green’s devilish grin flash underneath their visor. The green crewmate kicked out his legs in excitement before standing up and walking out of the room, Cyan exchanging curious glances with the crew until they returned with an ice chest. He could hear the not-so-subtle sound of glass and aluminum clinking against the ice inside.

“Stash!” Green exclaimed, the ice chest settling on the blankets spread over the floor with a muffled thump.

“Green,” Blue huffed. “Alcohol isn’t allowed on ships. How did you even get these onboard?”

“Ohohoh, but that’s where you’re  _ wrong _ , my friend.” Green’s smirk grew wider, opening the box. “These are entirely and completely allowed by MIRA.”

“What does that mean?” Blue’s eyes narrowed as he looked inside, seeing the  _ obvious  _ beer bottles.

“I found a loophole!~” Green said, pulling out a few bottles and shoving one into Blue’s hands. “I mean, alcohol is necessary for cleaning supplies. So I got a friend to get these drinks registered as a cleaning solution.”

“You’re joking.” Cyan chuckled, taking a bottle from Green. “We are going to get in  _ so much _ trouble. Wait,” Cyan hesitated, looking up from the bottle to the crewmate. “Is this rubbing alcohol?”

“No, though that would be funny.” Green snickered, handing a bottle to the hesitant White.

“And deadly,” Blue muttered even as he popped the cap off. He glanced over at Brown as she inspected the bottle, clearly unsure if she should drink it. “Brown?”

The captain glanced up, finally coming up with an answer. “Whatever. It’s not like other crews haven’t done it before.”

Purple eagerly reached into the ice chest and pulled out two bottles before Green could hand him one, tearing his helmet off and popping off a cap, chugging the first bottle as Cyan and Green cheered. 

Cyan followed suit, chugging his own bottle and managing to finish it off as Purple watched with a subtle hint of awe, only managing to get halfway through his. “Nice!” He chuckled as Cyan held up the empty bottle, letting it drop onto the ground. 

White sipped at her own drink, her helmet and gloves removed as her nails tapped against the glass. The rest of the crew had taken off their helmets as well, though both Brown and Blue were clearly hesitant at the breach of regulation.

Somewhere in his third bottle, Cyan let out a yell of excitement. “We should turn off the gravity regulators!” He grinned. “Floating party!”

“That is a  _ terrible _ idea.” Blue scoffed, just now finishing off his first. He seemed to be the slowest, even White now taking big swallows.

“No, no. It’s good.” White added with a surprisingly lopsided grin. “We’d probably be thrown out of orbit and either crash land or never see another person again, but yeah. Let’s turn off the  _ gravity regulators _ .”

“Okay, okay. Maybe not.” Cyan said, still laughing to himself. 

“Do you have any whiskey in there, Green?” Purple asked, leaning over the ice chest and somewhat losing his balance, catching himself on the side of the box.

“Nope, but that’s not my entire stash. Wouldn’t want to waste it all in one day, hm?” Green smirked, downing another bottle before grabbing a small aluminum can.

“We’re gonna need a lot if we’re gonna get through the entire mission.” Brown chuckled, eyes looking down at his can as he crinkled the metal with his hand.

“Any drinks we can use for shots?” Purple huffed, leaning away from the ice chest. 

“Next time I’ll bring out a bottle of tequila.” Green replied, looking away as he messed with Cyan’s hair. 

Brown batted away Green’s hand from Cyan, her face into a pout. “No touchie. Regulation still applies, even if we’re drunk.”

“It clearly doesn’t.” Purple snorted, rolling his eyes as he opened a can, the metal letting out a hiss as it opened. 

“I can touch Cyan as much as I want, Brown.” Green said with a smug grin before his face drooped. “Wait. No no no-”

Cyan barked out a laugh, throwing their head back as they laughed.

“That is NOT what I meant and you KNOW IT!” Green shouted, shoving Cyan over even as they kept cackling.

Blue was laughing just as hard, doubled over as he watched Green yell about how he  _ wasn’t  _ flirting with Cyan and generally making it worse for himself. When he finally managed to calm down, he looked at the clock on the wall, slightly disappointed to see it ten minutes past lights out. Well… maybe just a little bit longer.

White scooched over, her hand rubbing Cyan’s hair as he squeaked in surprise. “Mmh, your hair is soft.” She said with a clumsy grin.

“That’s ‘cause I’m the only dude on the ship who actually uses conditioner.” Cyan said, pushing White away.

“Not true!” Blue squeaked. “I don’t know about Purple or Green, but I definitely use conditioner.”

“I do too! Way to throw me under the bus.” Purple scoffed, only for Blue to shove them down onto the ground.

“Two-in-one does NOT count. It doesn’t work!” Blue huffed, grabbing a third (fourth?) bottle from the ice chest. 

“Hah,” Brown barked out a smug laugh. “I’m so glad I don’t have to share a shower with you guys. Right, White?” She asked, looking over at the mentioned crewmate.

White nodded, sticking out her tongue in disgust. “Gross. Dudes are gross.” 

“Women  _ are _ the best gender.” Green nodded approvingly, laughing as White and Brown shot him a glare. “What’s wrong? I find women  _ much _ more attractive than men.”

“That’s implying you find men attractive at all.” Cyan chuckled, taking another swig from his bottle.

“I AM NOT GAY!” Green yelped, shoving Cyan.

“Wow, you are  _ extremely _ gay.” Purple laughed, leaning away as Green tried to shove him back as well.

“Alright, alright, we all know  _ Green _ is gay.” Blue said with a chuckle. “But what about that Purple dude? Think he’s into me?”

Purple roared with laughter, falling backwards and trying not to spill his drink. 

“No, no, you see,” White leaned forward, talking over Purple’s laughter. “Green is gay, Purple is, uhhh, he’s pansexual, cause you  _ know _ he would screw anything that moves, and uhhh, Cyan is… well, I’ve got no idea.”

“Have you put actual thought into this?” Cyan cackled, trying to cover his laughs with the hand that was currently holding his beer bottle.

“Do me, do me!” Green squeaked.

“I  _ already _ did you, Green.” White giggled, taking another sip from her bottle. “Oh, oh, I’ve got it! Cyan is… dem… denim…”

“ _ Denim _ ?” Cyan scoffed, looking offended. “Man, didn’t know I could be that tacky.”

“Denim is hot,” Purple objected, raising his can as if to make a point.

“And so is your accent.” White responded, causing Purple to start howling with laughter again. “Anyways, Cyan is demisexual.”

“Remind me to look that up later,” Cyan nodded to himself. “What about Blue, hm?”

“I do  _ not _ need that question answered.” Blue scoffed, taking a drink from his bottle.

“Yes you do. Anyways, I bet you’re asexual.” White nodded to him as she spoke, leaning back.

“What, I can make copies of myself?” Blue laughed. “Wish I could do that.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.” White chuckled, watching as Brown stifled a yawn.

“Hey, I’m gonna go to bed.” Brown said, standing up as the crew all groaned in disappointment. “We don’t have weekends on the ship, alright? Tomorrow morning is gonna suck, and it’s way past lights out.”

Blue glanced at the clock, eyes widening as he saw an hour had passed. Had it really been that long? “Mmh, yeah we should probably all go to bed.” He said, standing up as well and stretching his stiff legs.

“Yeah, I’m tired.” White agreed, Cyan nodding as well. Green huffed in disappointment but closed the ice chest, trying to pick it up but stumbling over the box and landing on top of it.

Brown chuckled, stepping over the collapsed Green and out of the lounge room, helmet in her hands. Cyan grabbed his own helmet, watching as Purple stumbled trying to help Green stand and the two of them ended up in a collapsed heap. He nodded to himself, a soft smile on his face. This had been a good night, and the crew finally got to relax.

Cyan let out a contented sigh, putting the helmet on his head as he left the room, Purple and Green still tangled together. He could barely see Brown turning down the hallway to the dorms and followed her, footsteps echoing down the hallway.

As Cyan entered his dorm room, he threw his helmet off to the side, letting it clatter against the wall and floor before falling down on his bed, only to groan in disappointment when he realized his soft blanket was still in the lounge. He only hesitated for a second before he pulled out his communicator and flipped it on.

“Heyyy, can someone bring my blanket from the lounge?” His voice was slurred as he spoke into the static, waiting impatiently for a reply. 

“Yeah, I’ll bring it over in just a sec.” Either Blue or Green said over the radio, voice slurring just like Cyan’s. He mumbled a thanks in reply, undoing the zipper on his suit and pulling it off his shoulders, debating if he should take off the tank top before or after he got his blanket back.

He couldn’t hold back a laugh as he imagined Green walking in on him shirtless, though he promptly cut it off as he heard a knock on the door. Cyan opened it, his suit half-unzipped and bunched around his waist. Blue had his helmet back on, and as he spoke Cyan could hear the frown at the breach of conduct.

“Here’s your blanket, Cyan. Don’t answer the door if you aren’t wearing your suit, y’know.”

“Eh, you’re fine.” Cyan chuckled, taking the blanket. “Thanks for getting the blanket for me, doc.”

Blue mumbled something inaudible in reply before leaving, the others’ blankets in his hands as he left. Cyan closed the door behind him, kicking off his boots and dropping the blanket onto the bed before ripping off the rest of the suit. 

Cyan quickly changed into his pajamas, flicking the lightswitch on the wall. As the lights in the room flickered away, Cyan dropped face-first onto the bed, wrapping himself up in the blanket. The last thing he heard before he fell asleep was the sound of Purple and Green joking outside, a smile on his face.

ඞ ￮ ￮ ￮

The pounding headache was what woke Cyan up. He sat up in his bed, rubbing his forehead with a groan of pain. The crewmate let out a yelp as his toe jammed against the wall next to the bed frame, hands flying to his foot and holding it as he hissed with pain. 

“Ow.” Cyan huffed, letting his head droop as the pain finally faded from his foot. He stood up, stumbling with vertigo for a few seconds before recovering, though his legs wouldn’t stop shaking. He opened up the door to his room, stepping out into the dark hallway. The ship looked harshly different when there wasn’t the sound of his crewmates’ laughter echoing in the rooms. 

He mumbled something to himself as he walked to the kitchen, though he stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of someone digging through the cabinets.

It was probably just the hangover making him so scared. But he couldn’t stop the shiver down his spine, and the distinct feeling of something being  _ wrong _ . “H-Hello? Green, is that you?” He called out into the kitchen, looking into the dark room. 

Cyan couldn’t see anything in the room, wishing he had brought a flashlight, or even his helmet, with its head-mounted light, but it was pitch black. The sound had stopped though, and he could hear canned food rolling around on the floor.

“Green, stop messing around. I just want some water to deal with my hangover, we  _ really _ shouldn’t have had as much to drink as we did.” He said, hesitantly stepping into the dark room. He could barely see his hands as he walked forward, feeling around the room.

Cyan stopped when he felt one of his hands touching something. He assumed it was whichever one of the crewmates was still trying to hide their identity, but he second-guessed himself when he felt something slick dripping down what he had  _ thought _ was their arm. But it bent in places it shouldn’t have, far too long, and Cyan was completely still as he watched it curl around him, still keeping away from his skin apart from where he had touched it.

He was shaking violently now, though he didn’t know if that was because of the hangover or if he was terrified of whatever seemed to be… embracing him? Almost hugging him? He yelped as he felt something nudge his feet, his already off-balance legs falling beneath him. The strange arm caught him gently, almost cradling him like a child.

“Cyyyaaaaannnn…” He heard someone hiss out, slowly getting closer to where he was held. He shivered as he realized that the thing curled around him was a  _ tentacle _ , and he started struggling to get out of their grasp, only for the tentacle to restrain him tightly. The gentle touch disappeared, replaced by a harsh grip.

“Let me go!” Cyan squeaked, trying to sound confident but instead coming out meek. He let out a gasp as he wriggled out of the grip, falling onto the metal floor. His head hit the ground hard, and he groaned in pain. The tentacle had let him go and wasn’t going to give it a chance to grab him again, crawling away.

"Cyyaaaaaann… cuuute…" The voice whispered, and this time Cyan was just plain disturbed. He gasped as he felt a tentacle worm its way around his ankle, tugging on it gently. It wasn't quite pulling him backwards, but he couldn't move forward. "Won't… huuuurrrt… you…"

"L-Let me go!" Cyan protested, reaching back and pulling at the tentacle wrapped around his ankle. He whimpered as it refused to budge, another tentacle coming to his wrist and pulling it back.

"Stop!" Cyan said, and immediately the tentacles froze. He let out a few deep breaths, hesitating. "Can you please let me go?" He whimpered out, not pulling on the grip the tentacles had on him.

"Won't hurt… prrroomiiissssee…" He heard the creature say, but they didn't continue trying to grab at him. 

"What… what do you want?"

"Frrriend?" The creature chirped, lightly tugging on his ankle. He barely felt the movement, but he got the message.

"Are you… are you an Impostor? Oh no… you're going to kill the entire crew, aren't you? Everyone's gonna die… Blue, and Brown, and, and Green, and White, and P—"

He felt a hand clap over his mouth silencing him. "No!" It protested, and Cyan could practically feel it hovering above him. "Friends. I won't hurt you,  _ or _ the crew. I wouldn't." The voice sounded surprisingly human now, though the words were slurred, as if it were…

Cyan's eyes widened as he recognized the voice.

"...Brown?" He muttered, pushing away the hand over his mouth. 

The Impostor was silent, hovering over him. "I'm sorry," she finally muttered, her tentacles pulling away. "I'm sorry, I-I'm so sorry, I—"

"Shh," This time, Cyan was the one silencing the Impostor. "It's okay, Brown. I won't tell anyone."

Brown seemed to collapse on top of him and he grunted, but quickly shifted to hold her weight. Cyan didn't say anything, the silence being filled by Brown's quiet cries, her body shaking.

“You won’t tell anyone?” Brown asked, her hands tightly holding Cyan’s pajama shirt.

“As long as you don’t hurt anyone, yeah. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you.” Brown said, shoving her face into Cyan’s shirt and hugging him tighter.

“Should we—I don’t know, do you want to go back to sleep?” Cyan forced a nervous chuckle, still somewhat worried about the Impostor hugging him.

“I… I’m still a little drunk, I guess?” Brown said, and Cyan recalled how slurred her voice had been, and still was. “I don’t want to sleep. Or, I  _ can’t _ sleep. Alcohol lasts a lot longer in my system.”

“Right. Cause you’re…” Cyan took a deep breath, “you’re an alien, right. What are hangovers like for you then?”

“Shorter, but worse. I’m basically incapacitated.” She mumbled. “It only lasts about thirty minutes, though, instead of hours.”

“Ok, well, let’s get some water. Both of us, honestly. I’ve got… a really bad headache.” Cyan mumbled, struggling to stand as Brown slipped off of him. 

“Oh, sorry for, uh, dropping you, by the way.” Brown mumbled, still holding onto Cyan. She was clearly unbalanced, leaning onto him for support. “And, you know. Scaring you, and grabbing you. All the stuff.”

“Just don’t do it again.” Cyan laughed, grabbing some reusable cups from the cabinet and filling them with the filtered water from the sink. Brown gratefully took one of the cups, slowly sipping from it as if savoring it. They were both quiet, standing in the kitchen as they drank the water. Cyan was already feeling better.

“Th-thanks, Cyan.” Brown let out a sigh, leaning against the counter. Cyan had barely noticed his eyes adjusting to the dark, but now he could see a clear outline of her. “I don’t… I should let you sleep, but thanks for the help.”

“You’re sure you’re gonna be okay for the rest of the night? I can deal with a bit of sleep deprivation, nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” Cyan offered, shuffling with his feet nervously.

Brown mumbled something under her breath, though Cyan couldn’t quite make out what it was. “What was that?” He asked, leaning closer.

“I mean, I—I wouldn’t mind if we went to your room? Like, together? Not, like, romantic, or anything, and you can fall asleep, it’d just be nice if you were there, y’know? And I mean, we don’t  _ have _ to, you can say no—”

“It’s alright.” Cyan interrupted her. “We can cuddle.” He chuckled as he said it, though his stomach was doing flips at the thought of cuddling with an  _ Impostor _ .

“I mean, you don’t have to phrase it like  _ that _ —” Brown cut herself off, letting out a deep breath. “Ok, yeah, let’s just go to your room and cuddle, or whatever. Totally… not weird, or anything. Completely platonic.”

“You’re making it more awkward.”

“Yep.” Brown said, popping the p. “Let’s just—let’s just go.”

Cyan forced a nervous chuckle, letting Brown drag him to his room. The door was still open from when he had first left it, and Brown didn’t hesitate to enter, glancing around the bare room. 

“No pictures?” Brown glanced over to Cyan, who simply shrugged.

“Life on Earth wasn’t particularly kind to me.” He responded, closing the door behind them.

“The rest of the crew decorated their room with other things, too. What about you?”

“Oh, I do have decorations.” Cyan chuckled, grabbing something off the nightstand by his bed. Brown heard a button being clicked and suddenly the entire room was dimly lit by small twinkling lights, pinned around the corners of the walls and bedframe.

“Wow,” Brown stared at the lights as they slowly faded from one color to another, her hands reaching out to touch them. “Why were they off?”

“I can’t sleep with them on.” Cyan chuckled. He glanced over Brown, unsure if he was disappointed or relieved that she had returned to… being human? She certainly didn’t have the tentacles that she had held Cyan with anymore.

“So we have to turn them off again?” Brown pouted, looking back at Cyan. “You can’t sleep with them on?”

“We can keep them on.” Cyan said, and Brown squeaked in excitement, flopping onto the bed, pulling Cyan down with her. 

Cyan let Brown lean against him, creating a cushion of pillows against the wall. She grabbed the blanket that Cyan had thrown off himself earlier, covering the two of them with the soft fabric.

Cyan’s eyes quickly adjusted to the light and his eyes slowly drifted closed, Brown snuggling up against him.

ඞ ￮ ￮ ￮

When he woke up, Cyan’s headache was accompanied by sore muscles despite the absence of a weight against him. He stretched out his legs and arms, turning off the lights and glancing around the room as last night’s events returned to him.

“Ooooohhhhhhhhh, crap.” Cyan hissed, rubbing his forehead. “Crap.” He groaned again, walking outside of the room. The lights were on, signifying that it was day, though with last night’s events everybody could still be asleep. He walked towards the cafeteria, the room still empty. 

_ Brown probably killed them all, _ Cyan joked to himself, though he immediately regretted thinking it, considering it was entirely possible. He grabbed a cup of water, grimacing when he saw the leftover cups from last night.  _ Definitely not a dream, then.  _ He sighed as he drank from the cup, grabbing some bread and putting it into the toaster.

As Cyan pulled out a butter knife, he heard footsteps coming into the room. He turned around, letting out a sigh of relief as he saw a  _ very _ hungover Purple and Green walking in.

“Fun night?” Cyan smirked, his headache mostly gone as he started buttering his toast. 

“Screw you.” Purple groaned, Green thumping onto the cafeteria table and banging his head against the top. 

“Come get some water, it’ll help with the hangover.” Cyan said, taking a bite of his toast. 

“It’ll help your mom.” Green replied, speech muffled by the tabletop. 

“Very creative.” Cyan nodded, grabbing two more cups of water and handing one to Green and one to Purple as he sat at the table. They both reluctantly drank the water, the three of them glancing upwards as White entered.

“Hey White.” Cyan raised a hand in a lazy wave, which she returned. 

“I take it the two drunkards aren’t having a great morning?” White chuckled, her voice and movements sleepy. 

“Your mom isn’t having a great morning,” Green mumbled, hunched in on himself and huddling the cup of water.

“My mom is dead.” White said, staring Green down.

“Oh. Uh, sorry—”

White barked out a laugh, watching Green’s wide-eyed face. “It’s just a joke. I mean, my mom  _ is _ dead, but seriously. That was funny.”

“Wow, that was harsh.” Cyan chuckled, feeling bad for Green as they glared down White. “Ah, wait, White did you see Brown?”

“Yeah, tried to get her to come out for breakfast, but she said she was gonna be a little late ‘cause she had an awful headache. She better not take the whole day off because of a hangover.” White huffed, starting her own toast.

“Maybe I should go check on her,” Cyan said, mostly to himself. He heard another set of footsteps and perked up, expecting Brown, but was rather disappointed when it was only Blue. “Hey, doc.” Cyan gave a lazy wave, Blue not even bothering to return it.

“We should  _ not _ have gotten so drunk last night. Today’s gonna be a wreck.” Blue huffed, grabbing a bottle of sparkling water from the fridge. 

“Tell me about it,” Green huffed. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to fix any broken wires today. They’re gonna make me dizzy.”

“Wh—Why do you still have wires to fix?” Blue huffed. “We’ve been on this ship for two months and there’s still wires to fix?”

“The ship is broken down as heck, man. I think it’s older than me.” Green huffed. “I fix them, and then the next day they’re broken again.”

“Yeah, I can attest to that.” Purple nodded. “The navigation keeps getting offset. It’s like the ship doesn’t even wanna get where it’s goin’.”

“Yep, even the software gets all screwed up. I look at the coding of a panel and find a ton of scrambled code.” White said. “Feels like the ship’s haunted.”

“Hah, and you don’t believe in ghosts.” Green snickered, looking at Cyan.

“Have you been having these problems too, Cyan?” Blue asked, looking over to the crewmate.

Cyan froze, unsure what to say. He  _ did _ have those problems, finding plants in the greenhouse being ripped up by their roots or drowning in water. But if he agreed, that went from a messed up ship to a real, physical threat. And he had a feeling he knew what that threat was.

“Nope. The greenhouse has been fine, apart from the stuff White and Green are complaining about.” He shrugged nonchalantly despite his heart racing in his chest.

“I think I might have Brown look into it anyways,” Blue said. “Maybe at our next fuel stop we can hire someone for security?”

“What?” Cyan exclaimed. “I don’t want to risk getting an Impostor on our crew!”

“I thought you didn’t believe in Impostors.” Blue said, raising an eyebrow.

“Well,” Cyan hesitated, caught in his lie. “Well, human Impostors still exist. And this crew all gets along really well, I don’t wanna ruin that.”

“That’s a good point.” White agreed. “All my previous crews have been full of idiots. It’s nice to have a small crew like this, where we don’t have to worry about babysitting the others.”

“There’s definitely still something wrong, though.” Blue huffed. “There’s no way that a broken-down ship can be the cause for all of this stuff. Sure, just one thing makes sense, but all of them? Besides, it’ll be a temporary addition until we figure out what’s going on.”

Cyan huffed, unsure how else to protest. Blue had a good point. “We’ll see what Brown says, then. When’s our next stop for fuel?”

“I think it’s a bit more than a week.” Purple answered. “I’ll have to check Navi to make sure, but yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Ugh, I really don’t want a new person, though.” Green complained. “It’s just a few broken wires. I mean, it’s literally my job to fix them. If they weren’t broken I wouldn’t have anything to do.”

“It’s still an issue of security.” Blue said. “Like I said, I’ll talk to Brown about it.”

“Actually, I’m gonna go check on her. Make sure her hangover isn’t too bad.” Cyan said, standing up.

“Can you convince her that Blue’s wrong, too?” Green pleaded, hands together as if praying. Cyan snorted, leaving without a word as Purple started theorizing about whatever new crewmate they might be getting. At least one of them was excited.

Cyan gently knocked on the door to the Captain’s room, receiving a pained groan in response.

“Can I come in?” He said quietly. He didn’t receive an answer, but he could hear quiet shuffling behind the door before it slid open with a hiss.

He entered the room, eyes widening when he saw Brown clutching her head as tentacles seemed to float in the air next to her. He closed the bedroom door and took a step towards Brown, but stopped as she opened her mouth.

"Cyyyyyaaaaannnn…"

Cyan stopped dead in his tracks, all the fear from last night returning like a tidal wave. "Brown?" He whispered, unsure if he wanted to get any closer.

"Hhhhh...head… huuurrrrrrrrtttssss…"

He let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding. She was clearly struggling to stay as human as she looked right now, and the biologist in him wanted to see what she looked like when she was completely unraveled, but he shoved that part of him down.

"Brown, can I come closer?" He asked, watching as the Impostor shook with pain.

"Pleeeeeaaaaassse…" Brown seemed to beg, looking up at him with wide and pained eyes. He took a step closer, still hesitating until he finally walked to her side and sat down next to her.

"Hey," he said, his calm voice surprising even him, "it's gonna be okay. It won't last much longer, alright?"

Brown nodded, leaning into him. Cyan froze with fear, the tentacles gently curving around him like last night. He was fully prepared for them to strangle him but didn't move, letting Brown climb under his arm.

He sat there for a few minutes, Brown clutching tightly onto him as he was still paralyzed with fear. He tried not to show how scared he was, gently laying his hand on her shoulder. 

"Thhhanks, Cyannn." Brown slurred out, seeming slightly more there now. One of her tentacles was laying across Cyan's lap, and he could see the slightly serrated edge that had somehow missed him last night. He couldn't help but reach out his unoccupied hand, gently feeling the edge.

He almost jumped off the bed when Brown started  _ purring _ . He didn't expect  _ that.  _ "Brown, are you… are you purring?"

The vibrations from the Impostor immediately stopped and she looked up at him. "No. N-No, I didn't. I don't, I mean. I can't purr."

"You  _ were _ purring!" Cyan snickered. "I'm not making fun of you, promise. It's just interesting. Makes me wonder how purring benefits your species. See with cats, a type of, uh, pet on our planet," Cyan added after seeing Brown's confused gaze, "their purr is a sign of contentment, trust, and helps heal both physical and mental wounds. It sounded kinda dumb when I first heard it, but it's true! Anyways, considering the scenario, I wonder if it's the same for your species, or—why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're a dork!" Brown chuckled. "I did one thing and you're analyzing me. Really,  _ such _ a biologist." She jokingly shoved him away.

"I mean, I didn't  _ mean _ to hyper-analyze you. It just kind of happened, I'm just curious about that kind of stuff," Cyan said, scratching the back of his neck.

"No, it's okay. I liked it. You seemed pretty excited about it, too." Brown meekly smiled. "You never talk about being a biologist, or at least it seems like it. You're always so quiet about your job."

"Most people aren't really interested in it, so I don't talk about it a lot." Cyan barely noticed that his fear of Brown had finally faded into the background, not quite gone, but no longer keeping him frozen in place.

"You should talk about it more." Brown said, settling her head against his shoulder. "Besides, learning about human stuff seems… well, if not cool, then at least a good idea."

Cyan jumped as he heard a knock on the door, the tentacles that had been gently wrapping around him quickly slipping away into who knows where. “Hey, Brown, is Cyan in there?” He heard a muffled Blue through the door, Brown visibly relaxing when she realized who it was, small tentacles poking out from somewhere in her back.

“Yeah, we’re in here.” Cyan said, looking over at Brown as she winced in pain. She flinched again as they heard the sound of the door opening, a small hiss as it slid into the wall.

Cyan’s gaze flung to the doorway, wide eyes staring at Blue, who seemed just as surprised as Cyan. Brown’s tentacles were in plain sight, though she didn’t seem panicked at all.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Cyan squeaked, pushing one of Brown’s tentacles off his lap in a belated attempt to hide it.

“It  _ looks _ like Brown screwed up.” Blue huffed, raising an eyebrow.

“Well—wait, did you—” Cyan looked down at Brown, who only gave him a knowing smirk. “Blue knows, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah,” Brown avoided his eyes, chuckling nervously. “I didn’t want to tell you, but I suppose it had to happen eventually.”

“Why didn’t you want to tell me?”

“I mean, it’s not like I was purposefully hiding it from you, I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Anyways,” Blue rolled his eyes, “I assume that this happened… recently?”

“Last night.” Brown said. “Nobody else was there, and I was still… very delirious, from the alcohol.”

“Shouldn’t have let Green convince us to drink all that crap.” Blue shook his head, stepping into the room. “How’s your head?”

“Getting better.” Brown said. “Cyan helped.”

“What about you, Cyan? Any nightmares?” Blue said, and Cyan… wasn’t sure how to respond. He  _ hadn’t _ had any nightmares, but that wasn’t to say that Brown didn’t absolutely terrify him. He wouldn’t be surprised if the reason that he didn’t have trouble sleeping was because of him being absolutely trashed after drinks, but… 

“Nope. I was fine last night.” Cyan shrugged nonchalantly, receiving an unsure glance from Blue.

“Really? Brown can be kinda scary… I got nightmares for days after seeing her.” He said, followed by a pout from Brown. 

“Am I really that scary?” She asked, looking up at Cyan with wide eyes.

“I mean, yeah, you’re kinda scary. But it’s cool,” Cyan said.

“Yeah, Blue. I’m  _ cool _ ,” Brown smirked, sitting up straight to prove a point but letting out a hiss of pain when the change of position made her head swim violently.

“You ok?” Both Blue and Cyan said, looking over at the Impostor with worried glances. 

“I’m good, I’m good.” Brown whimpered, holding her head and letting out a deep breath. “Allllll… good.” 

“Should we get you pain meds?” Cyan asked, wanting to comfort her but unsure how.

“No, they don’t help. I’ve just gotta ride through it.” Brown huffed, leaning forward. Cyan wondered what the painkillers would do to Brown’s body chemistry, considering how they worked, but pushed the thought away.

The thought quickly switched to wondering what  _ would _ work as painkillers and he wanted to try numerous different compounds, but not now. “Do you, I don’t know—do you know how much longer it’ll last?”

“Probably not much longer.” Brown huffed, grabbing Cyan’s arm and holding it almost painfully tight. “Thanks for helping.” She smiled, though Cyan could see the obvious pain behind it.

Blue nodded in agreement with Brown. “Cyan, could you give the crew their assignments today?” He asked, looking over at the crewmate. “I’ll make sure Brown gets through this.”

“Of course. Where can I find them?” Cyan said.

Brown mumbled something in response, pointing to a paper on her nightstand. Cyan stood up, picking up the paper and glancing over it. The date was written on it, along with the places Brown had needed repairs done.

“Good luck,” Cyan said, glancing back one last time to see Blue holding Brown carefully. His face flashed a quick smile that was unseen by both of them, leaving the room.

He walked down the hallway, hearing Purple and Green talking about something before he entered the cafeteria, the two of them immediately becoming silent.

“Oh, hey Cyan.” White said. “How’s Brown?”

“She’s fine.” He said, sitting down at the table. “Blue’s gonna give her some painkillers and then she should be good for the rest of the day.”

“Oh, good.” Purple breathed out a sigh of relief. “Wasn’t looking forward to havin’ to do her tasks for the day.”

“Speaking of tasks,” Cyan said, interrupting Green before he could start complaining, “she asked me to tell you where to go today.” He waved the paper in his hand, drawing their attention to it.

“Well, go ahead.” Green grumbled. “Can’t wait to start my daily chores.”

Cyan rolled his eyes, looking at the paper. “Okay, I’m in the greenhouse, as always. Green, you’ve gotta deal with the stuff in the reactor room, Brown says that it needs to be restarted and it needs extra energy to deal with that. The engines also need to be realigned for the week.”

“Good, no wires.” Green let out a sigh of relief. 

“Purple, you’ve got to stabilize the steering and chart the course for the day. You’re also the one in charge of shields today, so make sure you take care of that.” Cyan received a nod from the navigator, and he nodded in return, glancing over to White. “And, White, you’ve got to calibrate the distributor since Brown noticed that the energy was going all wonky today. You’re also in charge of trash, and Brown saw the admin map was kind of glitching out, so you should see if you can fix that.”

“Got it, cap.” White did a mock salute, standing up. Purple followed suit, the two of them walking out of the room.

“Cyan, wait.” Green said, standing up just as Cyan went to follow them.

“What’s up?” Cyan asked, turning to the engineer.

“So Blue mentioned hiring some security, and I know I complained, but honestly I think it’s a good idea.” Green said, his tone surprisingly serious. 

“Really?” Cyan perked up, his head tilting out of curiosity. “Why?”

“Well, I have a friend that works with that kind of stuff, so, y’know. It’d be nice to have them on the ship,” Green snorted. “Plus, I know you’ve been having trouble in the greenhouse. I don’t know why you lied to Blue about it, but I think you should tell him.”

“Wait, how did you know?” Cyan asked.

“You complain about it all the time.” Green chuckled. “Anyways, on to more important matters. I asked Blue if we could look at everyone’s file for their birthday, but he wouldn’t let me. Seriously, I just want to know their birthday.” The crewmate huffed, folding his arms.

“So we have more excuses to get out the stash, right?” Cyan snorted. 

“Precisely. Could you see if you could, I dunno, work your cute little magic with him and get their birthdays?”

“Wait, wait. My ‘cute little magic’?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what else to call it.”

“How—no, just why. Why.”

“Well, I mean, you make friends with everybody.” Green shrugged. “What, didn’t you notice that everyone on this ship took an immediate liking to you? You were the first one who made White smile. Plus every time we stop for fuel you get, like, a ton of discounts. For no reason!”

“I mean, I do get discounts, but I figured it was just to get me to shop there more.” Cyan shrugged. “Do I really?”

“Yeah,” Green looked amazed that he hadn’t realized it. “Anyways, ask Blue. Oh, also, next time we stop for fuel I’m gonna get more stuff for the stash. You and Purple are coming with me.”

“Alright.” Cyan said. “Wait, is this friend you want to join us on the ship the same one you mentioned last night that let you get your stash on the ship?”

“No comment.” Green said with a wide grin. “See ya later, Cyan!” He said, leaving the room.

Cyan sighed, glancing around the empty room, debating his two choices. He  _ could _ just get to work on his tasks, or he could go see Blue and Brown. He reread the paper, sighing. 

Off to the greenhouse, then.

He stepped inside of the room, UV light shining from the light fixtures above. It looked far too much like stepping off the metal floor into the dark abyss of space, nothing but glass beneath him. 

The green plants and vines drooping from the ceiling brushed against his suit as he walked through the greenhouse, and Cyan released the latches on his helmet with a clicking noise. 

He took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet perfumes of flowers as they bloomed around him. The overwhelming amount of green filling up the room put a smile on his face as he quietly hummed to himself. It was relaxing, only worrying about how much fertilizer each plant was getting and how much water they needed today.

Cyan sighed as he saw one of the plants uprooted, dirt scattered across the floor in the topmost corner of the greenhouse. It had shriveled up, covered in some liquid. Based on the smell, it was vinegar. His nose wrinkled up in disgust as he picked up the plant, sighing as he threw it into the trash chute off to the side. 

Grabbing a broom from the storage closet, Cyan swept up the dirt and mud as best as he could, still humming quietly to himself as he did so. There were still a few specks on the ground, but he would have to get those off with a paper towel or mop later. 

Cyan grinned as he watched the plants move around, subtle movements that could barely be noticed. He absentmindedly pet one of the plants before going over to the O2 filter and cleaning it out, dumping the leftovers in the trash for White.

The clock on the wall read 12:05. It was nearly time for lunch.

Deep breaths, Cyan.

Deep breaths.


End file.
